Testing the Norms of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda: Ukraine’s Decolonial Feminist Response to Russiaʼs Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Testing the Norms of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda: Ukraine’s Decolonial Feminist Response to Russiaʼs Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Summary/Abstract: This study examines how Ukraine’s feminists responded to Russia’s use of conflict-related sexual violence during 2014–2024, including whether the new norms of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda proved helpful. Drawing upon online research, our study finds that the responses of Ukrainian feminist organisations after the full-scale invasion in 2022 were prompt, inventive, and wide-ranging. Considering the decolonial critiques, we find it remarkable that Ukrainian feminists were able to strategically use the new norms against CRSV while adding their own more empowering language to enlist international support. This gave the activists enough leverage to insist that the Ukrainian state make bureaucratic and legislative reforms. The Ukrainian feminist successes do not mean that there are no problems in these norms or the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, but instead suggest how feminist criticism may help activists figure out how to navigate this complex environment and democratise the state of Ukraine.

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